| Pl | # | Angler Team | Fish | Live | Wgt | Lunker | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 | Robert Fincham / Doug Grubbs | 5 | 3 | 24.42 | $1,400.00 | |
| 2 | 8 | Preston Cox / Larry Wollersheim | 5 | 5 | 18.67 | 5.50 | $1,075.00 |
| 3 | 21 | Thomas Harden / Doug Wentz | 5 | 5 | 18.65 | $500.00 | |
| 4 | 5 | Rob Grike / Eric Nelson | 5 | 4 | 16.92 | $350.00 | |
| 5 | 20 | Tank Mosley / Josh Steinberg | 5 | 5 | 16.80 | $250.00 | |
| 6 | 1 | Gary Schembs / Jared Jenkins | 5 | 5 | 16.20 | $220.00 | |
| 7 | 9 | Bart Wines / Tony Kronebusch | 5 | 5 | 16.03 | ||
| 8 | 18 | Timmy Jones / Jeff Jones | 5 | 5 | 15.06 | ||
| 9 | 3 | Jason Tibbetts / West Donley | 5 | 5 | 15.02 | ||
| 10 | 4 | John Till / Ken Winston | 5 | 5 | 14.95 | ||
| 11 | 12 | Tommy Bailey / Mike Hurdle | 5 | 5 | 14.92 | ||
| 12 | 23 | Neville Green / Matt Gabor | 5 | 5 | 14.80 | ||
| 13 | 19 | Johnny Schaefer / Jerry Schaefer | 5 | 5 | 14.45 | ||
| 14 | 15 | Kelly Godwin / Karl Kriegel | 5 | 5 | 14.36 | ||
| 15 | 2 | Bruce Lee / Craig Barnett | 5 | 4 | 14.26 | ||
| 16 | 22 | Allan Harvey / Martin Villa | 5 | 5 | 13.90 | ||
| 17 | 17 | Bo Hooks / Charlie Munday | 5 | 5 | 13.13 | ||
| 18 | 13 | Mike Orbell / Bob Bagheri | 5 | 5 | 13.11 | ||
| 19 | 30 | Lenny Baird / Marty Faulhaber | 5 | 5 | 12.85 | ||
| 20 | 29 | Tony Ebel / Greg Ebel | 5 | 5 | 12.78 | ||
| 21 | 32 | Larry Drewett / Wesley Muenze | 5 | 5 | 12.48 | ||
| 22 | 10 | Jim Donegan / Mickey Pettry | 5 | 5 | 12.45 | ||
| 23 | 31 | John Hutchins / Rahim Rahimi | 5 | 5 | 12.41 | ||
| 24 | 24 | Paul Ranslem / Dave Ranslem | 5 | 5 | 12.29 | ||
| 25 | 26 | John Cary / Dennis McNeal | 5 | 5 | 12.13 | ||
| 26 | 27 | Sean Stepp / Mike Nelms | 5 | 5 | 11.83 | ||
| 27 | 25 | Shawn Ezerski / Ralph Davis | 5 | 4 | 11.29 | ||
| 28 | 6 | Richard Bright / Jeff Ware | 5 | 5 | 11.20 | ||
| 29 | 33 | Pat Farrall / Dave Barker | 5 | 5 | 11.13 | ||
| 30 | 7 | Mike Hagerich / Ken Lafferty | 5 | 5 | 10.91 | ||
| 31 | 16 | Rick Chenowetch / Mike Fritz | 5 | 5 | 10.27 | ||
| 32 | 14 | Mike Snider / Steven Hoefler | 5 | 5 | 10.24 | ||
| 33 | 28 | Mike Willett / Warren Cooksey | 5 | 5 | 10.09 | ||
| 33 Boat Totals | 165 | 160 | 460.00 | 5.50 | $3,795.00 | ||
| Pl | # | Angler Team | Fish | Live | Wgt | Lunker | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | Robert Fincham / Doug Grubbs | 5 | 5 | 24.15 | 5.52 | $1,590.00 |
| 2 | 10 | Otis Darnell / Warren Kuser | 5 | 5 | 19.18 | $700.00 | |
| 3 | 12 | Mike Snider / Steven Hoefler | 5 | 5 | 17.66 | $450.00 | |
| 4 | 4 | John Till / Ken Winston | 5 | 5 | 17.13 | $325.00 | |
| 5 | 5 | Rob Grike / Eric Nelson | 5 | 5 | 16.49 | $270.00 | |
| 6 | 13 | John Hutchins / Rahim Rahimi | 5 | 5 | 15.78 | ||
| 7 | 19 | Sean Stepp / Mike Nelms | 5 | 5 | 15.76 | ||
| 8 | 9 | Preston Cox / Larry Wollersheim | 5 | 5 | 15.10 | ||
| 9 | 1 | Gary Schembs / Jared Jenkins | 5 | 5 | 14.55 | ||
| 10 | 8 | Mike Hagerich / Ken Lafferty | 5 | 5 | 14.21 | ||
| 11 | 23 | Neville Green / Matt Gabor | 5 | 5 | 14.08 | ||
| 12 | 3 | Jason Tibbetts / West Donley | 5 | 5 | 13.95 | ||
| 13 | 14 | Les King / Gary D’angelo | 5 | 5 | 13.93 | ||
| 14 | 26 | Pat Farrall / Dave Barker | 5 | 5 | 13.71 | ||
| 15 | 21 | Mike Willett / Warren Cooksey | 5 | 5 | 13.53 | ||
| 16 | 15 | Kelly Godwin / Karl Kriegel | 5 | 5 | 13.21 | ||
| 17 | 6 | Jim Donegan / Mickey Pettry | 5 | 5 | 13.11 | ||
| 17 | 11 | Bo Hooks / Charlie Munday | 5 | 5 | 13.11 | ||
| 19 | 16 | Allan Harvey / Martin Villa | 5 | 5 | 12.83 | ||
| 20 | 25 | Jeff Adams / Wyatt Adams | 5 | 5 | 12.11 | ||
| 21 | 7 | Mark Thomas / Christian Thomas | 5 | 5 | 12.08 | ||
| 22 | 27 | Nick Disabatino / Tim Kinder | 5 | 5 | 11.56 | ||
| 23 | 24 | Rob Halter / Andre Wynn | 5 | 5 | 10.69 | ||
| 24 | 28 | Bruce Burns / Ben Burns | 5 | 5 | 10.17 | ||
| 25 | 22 | Bill Patton / John Sweet | 5 | 4 | 9.85 | ||
| 26 | 18 | Paul Ranslem / Dave Ranslem | 5 | 5 | 9.45 | ||
| 27 | 29 | Richard Bright / Jeff Ware | 4 | 3 | 9.25 | ||
| 28 | 2 | Ray Emery / Mark Leone | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| 28 | 17 | Johnny Schaefer / Jerry Schaefer | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| 29 Boat Totals | 134 | 132 | 376.63 | 5.52 | $3,335.00 | ||
| Pl | # | Angler Team | Fish | Live | Wgt | Lunker | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | Rodney Mosley / Josh Steinberg | 5 | 5 | 17.55 | $1,000.00 | |
| 2 | 11 | Doug Pierce / Clay Pierce | 5 | 5 | 16.97 | $600.00 | |
| 3 | 6 | Rob Grike / Eric Nelson | 5 | 5 | 16.40 | 5.17 | $585.00 |
| 4 | 14 | Frank Poirier / Warren Poirier | 5 | 5 | 13.99 | ||
| 5 | 8 | Richard Bright / Jeff Ware | 5 | 4 | 13.76 | ||
| 6 | 1 | Gary Schembs / Jared Jenkins | 5 | 5 | 13.48 | ||
| 7 | 13 | Rick Chenowetch / Mike Fritz | 5 | 5 | 13.47 | ||
| 8 | 2 | Robert Clark / Rick Clark | 5 | 5 | 12.86 | ||
| 9 | 17 | Bo Hooks / Charlie Munday | 5 | 5 | 12.45 | ||
| 10 | 19 | Johnny Schaefer / Jerry Schaefer | 5 | 5 | 12.41 | ||
| 11 | 4 | John Till / Ken Winston | 5 | 5 | 12.39 | ||
| 12 | 10 | Allan Harvey / Martin Villa | 5 | 1 | 12.36 | ||
| 12 | 15 | Thomas Harden / Doug Wentz | 5 | 5 | 12.36 | ||
| 14 | 7 | Paul Ranslem / Dave Ranslem | 5 | 5 | 12.09 | ||
| 15 | 18 | Mike Willett / Warren Cooksey | 5 | 5 | 11.93 | ||
| 16 | 3 | Neville Green / Matt Gabor | 5 | 5 | 11.19 | ||
| 17 | 5 | Mike Hagerich / Ken Lafferty | 5 | 5 | 9.77 | ||
| 18 | 9 | Eric Vasques / John Wolf | 3 | 3 | 5.38 | ||
| 19 | 12 | Paul Radford / Darryl Deavers | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| 19 Boat Totals | 88 | 83 | 230.81 | 5.17 | $2,185.00 | ||
Wheeler Lake, Ala.
Wheeler is Alabama’s second largest lake, only slightly smaller than Guntersville at 67,100 acres, stretching some 60 miles from Guntersville Dam to Wheeler Dam in Rogersville. It’s a river as it passes the southern outskirts of Huntsville, but spreads out into flats, marshes and bays at Decatur and on to the lower dam.
Wheeler lost much of its aquatic vegetation several years back to undetermined causes, but the bass population is still abundant; most are caught on deep ledges and offshore bars along the river channel, but lots of heavy females show up in the creeks and bays during the spring spawn.
Largemouth are by far the most abundant species, but there are good numbers of smallmouth near the lower end from the Elk River westward. Jigs cast on rocky points and bluff walls catch most of the smallmouth. Wheeler is also a famed catfish lake, source of a former International Game Fish Association (IGFA) record blue cat at 111 pounds.
Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, some 35,000 acres on the reservoir east of Decatur, is a wintering area for tens of thousands of ducks and geese. Joe Wheeler State Park near Rogersville features a resort with waterfront accommodations. For more information, visit the Decatur Convention and Visitors Bureau site at decaturcvb.org.
Blake Flurry, left, and Zack Birge will take your questions live during the B.A.S.S. Twitter chat, Tuesday, Aug. 14, at 1 p.m. ET using hashtag #basschat.
Zack Birge and Blake Flurry of Oklahoma State University led the 2012 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship wire-to-wire, July 25-27 on three Arkansas fisheries. Now the pair have proved that they’re the best college team in the nation, and they’re ready to take your questions live during the B.A.S.S. Twitter chat.
Tune in Tuesday, Aug. 14, from 1 to 1:30 p.m. ET (noon to 12:30 CT) on Twitter using hashtag #basschat. You can also follow along here whether you have a Twitter account or not. Birge and Flurry, soon-to-be seniors at OSU, will answer your questions in real time about their experience fishing on a college team, about how to fish a certain area or technique, and about their plans for the future.
In the meantime, view transcripts of previous chats we’ve hosted with College B.A.S.S. anglers Matt and Jordan Lee, and Elite Series pros Jonathon VanDam, Todd Faircloth, Brent Chapman, Randy Howell, Ish Monroe, Brandon Palaniuk, Jeremy Starks and Alton Jones. Keep up with news, pros and tips by following B.A.S.S. on Twitter, and interact with others on the College B.A.S.S. Facebook page.
